TV Recap: 'Will Trent' — “CALL PAUL” Reunites Will With His Past as a Serial Killer Emerges

Will Trent Season 4, Episode 7, “CALL PAUL,” marks the long-awaited return of Paul Campano (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), Will’s complicated childhood rival whose history with him is anything but healed. What begins as a neighborhood tip quickly pulls Paul into the center of a chilling serial killer investigation — and forces Will to confront not only a dangerous killer, but buried memories from his own past. As Paul inserts himself into the case in the most Paul way possible, old wounds reopen, loyalty is tested, and Will is pushed closer than ever to the darkness he fears he understands too well.

Season 4, Episode 7: “CALL PAUL” - Written by Henry ‘Hank’ Jones

A woman runs through her house with blood leaking out of the back of her shirt. She stumbles toward the patio door, desperate to escape. Her attacker catches up. She falls to the floor, begging for mercy. The killer raises a nail gun.

For a split second, it’s Will Trent (Ramón Rodríguez) holding it. Will snaps out of the daydream and finds himself standing over the real crime scene, staring at the woman’s body. Bloody footprints lead toward the patio door. The victim is identified as Joelle Hornbaker (Susan Kegel). She could’ve escaped. She stopped instead. Will dictates into his recorder as he backtracks the scene. The angle of the nails suggests the killer was taller, likely male. The placement indicates deliberation. He probably wanted her to suffer.

Faith Mitchell (Iantha Richardson) enters and reports there’s no sign of forced entry. They’ve notified Joelle’s husband, Eli Hornbaker (Conrad Whitaker), who was on a business trip in Memphis. Will believes Joelle was the intended target and that the killer knew she would be alone. In the kitchen, he asks crime scene specialist Travis Nash (Alex Morf) if he’s noticed anything — fingerprints, smudges. Travis says it’s clean while inspecting a water cooler. Will thinks the killer wiped the scene down, which makes it strange that they left the murder weapon behind.

Will notices blood on a knife drawer that contains scissors. A chef’s knife is missing and hasn’t been found. Faith assumes the killer took it. Will responds oddly, “No, I didn’t let her get that close,” confusing Faith. 

There’s arguing in the foyer. Paul Campano (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) is demanding to be heard. Will and Faith step out. Paul lives down the street and insists, “Listen, I know who did it.”

At the GBI, Paul shows Will a sketch he made of a bearded man. Will bluntly says it looks like a toddler drew it. Paul explains that he saw the man around 4 a.m. during his early-morning routine, while picking up his meal plan, and noticed him near Joelle’s house. Will grows suspicious as Paul comments on Joelle’s beauty and directly asks whether they were having an affair. Before Paul can respond fully, Eli bursts in and tries to strangle him. It’s revealed that Paul and Joelle were having an affair. He broke it off, and Eli believes Paul killed her. Faith breaks up the altercation, leaving Will alone with Paul. Will demands the truth. Paul confesses. Last night was the last time — breakup sex — so his DNA will be on the victim. Will tells him he sounds exactly like a murderer.

Will goes to the conference room and tells Amanda Wagner (Sonja Sohn) he doesn’t believe Paul is the killer. This wasn’t a crime of passion. The murderer was patient and detail-oriented. Faith enters with new information: the nail gun doesn’t belong to Eli. The serial number traces back to Brent Shipley (J.R. Hartigan), who was killed last year in a home invasion. Similar style. No fingerprints. Weapon left at the scene. They’re looking at a serial killer.

Meanwhile, Angie Polaski (Erika Christensen), Michael Ormewood (Jake McLaughlin), and Franklin (Kevin Daniels) respond to what Officer O’Hara (Isaiah Stratton) initially believes is a hit-and-run. A dead man lies outside a car registered to Benjamin Price. The driver supposedly fled on foot. Franklin finds white hair and blood on the car, but the deceased is Black. Ormewood notes the injuries don’t look like a car crash. The victim’s eyes are puffy from pepper spray, and his neck is broken. Franklin confirms the victim is Benjamin Price himself. In the car is evidence of a phone call with someone named Luna (Amanda Perez), who had asked what he hit. They had been on the phone when he suddenly hung up.

Back on the serial case, Faith meets with Sandra Shipley (Jeannine Kaspar). Sandra confirms the nail gun belonged to her father, Brent. Faith shows her other crime scene photos; Sandra doesn’t recognize anything. She recounts finding her father murdered — his head burst open by a baseball bat. He hated baseball. She had never seen that bat before. Her father was cautious and always wore a panic button, yet he didn’t press it. Sandra believes her father knew the killer.

Will studies photos from the murders in the conference room and dictates into his recorder, questioning whether the killer is taking a weapon from the previous scene each time. His hand begins to shake. The lighting shifts. He hallucinates stepping into Brent’s living room, holding the bat. James Ulster (Greg Germann) appears in his vision, telling Will he’s flattered Will needs him as his dark side. Will bashes Brent’s head in and realizes the killer enjoyed it. The hallucination shifts to Joelle. Will picks up Brent’s nail gun and approaches her. She stops instead of running. James steps in her way, and Will realizes there are two killers.

Angie and Franklin question Luna. She says they had lunch and were on FaceTime while he drove home. He hit something that cracked his windshield. She heard a woman yell, “You killed my baby.” Then Benjamin hung up and never called back.

Angie makes calls to other precincts about similar hit-and-runs while Ormewood and Franklin toss a ball around her, pressuring her about missing the interdepartmental softball game. Pete’s lab results come back — the hair and blood on the car are from a skunk. Ormewood mentions that some people keep pet skunks. Franklin finds a local wildlife rehabber named Daphne Bell (Lauren Revard).

Will and Faith review photos again, discussing the possibility that the serial killer duo could be a couple. Faith revisits Sandra’s belief that Brent knew his killer. Will thinks the victims weren’t personal but that the killers have a method for selecting them. Amanda rushes in and announces Paul is messing up the case. She plays a social media video of Paul offering a discount at his auto shop, showing off his crime sketch, and encouraging viewers to use his “CALL PAUL” hotline.

Will and Faith race to Paul’s neighborhood and find him putting up posters with the sketch. Will points out that the killer will shave his beard now. Faith warns Paul that he’s tipping off the murderer. Suddenly, a green car speeds down the street, and gunfire erupts. Will and Faith tackle Paul to the ground just in time.

Paul’s street becomes a crime scene. Travis Nash searches for a third bullet. Paul insists that nowhere is safe for him. Faith suggests he stay with Will.

At Will’s house, Paul settles onto the couch with Betty in his lap. There’s a knock at the door. Will tells him to answer it. It’s Angie. Paul is shocked she’s pregnant and assumes it’s Will’s child. Will clarifies she’s married to a doctor. Angie came after hearing about the shootout. Will asks if they have their hankies. They all pull them out and tap them together like they did when they were younger, as they sit at the table for a meal. The moment turns tense as Will brings up how Paul tormented him, calling him “Trash.” Paul says Will had it coming. Angie breaks it up and redirects them to the case.

That night, Will sleeps but is jolted awake by a nightmare. He goes to the sink, washes his face, and looks up to see his reflection splattered in blood. He snaps out of it when his phone rings — Cobb County Sheriff’s Department.

Will and Paul, with Betty, go to APD about a two-year-old case that fits the profile: Martin Hill (Joshua T. Shipman), killed with his own hedge clippers. An autographed baseball bat was stolen. Will believes Martin may have been the first victim. Slipping into another hallucination, he asks, “Why would I choose to kill you?” James appears again, praising Will’s ability to kill and pointing toward Joelle. Will traces bloody footprints to a water cooler. Will connects the Anuli Springs water brand to the victims — Joelle had a machine, Martin had one, Brent had bottles delivered. James taunts him, urging him to kill. Will drives the clippers through James’ torso after James says, “This is what you want.” “This is what I want,” Will confirms — but when he looks down, the body is Martin’s.

Paul snaps him back to reality at the GBI. Will is shaken. Betty runs in, and Paul places her in Will’s lap, encouraging him to breathe. When Paul asks why he does this to himself, Will answers, “Anuli Springs Water,” explaining that’s how the killers choose their victims.

Angie and Franklin meet with Daphne Bell. She explains her skunk Copernicus ran into the road and was hit by Benjamin Price. She threw a rock at his car in anger, cracking the windshield. Afraid, she pepper-sprayed him and ran off with her injured skunk. She assumed he would press charges and had no idea he died.

Will and Paul go to Anuli Springs to get delivery records. Will makes Paul wait in the car. Inside, Will shows his badge and asks for a manager. Blair Anson (Shaun Lynch) says none are available but offers to help. As Blair leaves to retrieve records, Will notices a cut on his neck. After Blair steps away, Will asks Eduardo to run an image search and discovers Blair’s Driver of the Month award. Will pulls out his gun.

At the GBI, Faith informs Amanda that the third bullet found in a mailbox was a .38, not the .9mm listed in the crime scene report. Amanda asks if Faith is suggesting a GBI agent falsified evidence. Faith responds, “Travis Nash was at the scene.”

Outside Anuli Springs, Paul waits with the windows down when a black car pulls up. Travis steps out of the black car and approaches Paul, recognizing him. Paul recognizes him from the crime scene. Travis pulls a gun and says, “How about we go inside and see your friend?”

Inside the warehouse, Will moves cautiously with his weapon drawn, clearing employees. Blair fires from an upper grated level. Will evades. Travis enters behind him, holding Paul hostage. Blair fires again. With Travis distracted, Paul disarms him. Will shoots upward, hitting Blair. As Paul and Travis struggle, the gun slides under a shelf. Will and Travis engage in a brutal fight. Travis uses the stolen knife and rants that Will gets all the credit while he does the grunt work. The fight escalates until Will has the knife turned against Travis. Paul intervenes, striking Travis on the back of the head with a water bottle. Will cuffs Travis.

Angie and Franklin bring Luna back for follow-up questions. They confront inconsistencies in her story. Phone pings place her at the scene. Witnesses saw her threaten Benjamin at lunch. They believe she followed him, found him suffering an allergic reaction to pepper spray, and instead of helping him, stomped on his throat. She confesses. He was having an affair and was planning to leave her.

At APD, Ormewood and Franklin sulk about being short players for the baseball tournament. Daphne arrives with black-and-white cookies and says Copernicus is recovering. She releases another skunk, who runs around the station. Officer Atkins (DJ Cameron), in his first week on the job, arrives with a box to contain the critter. Ormewood and Franklin recruit him for the softball team.

At Will’s house, Paul packs up to leave. Will has learned that the killers were friends since elementary school. Betty crawls into Paul’s bag, upset he’s leaving. Will asks Paul what he meant about starting it. Paul insists Will beat him up first. Will denies it — “Why would I make that up?” Paul explains he was new and scared, and Will had just been kicked out of a foster home. Paul pointed a toy gun at him while playing cops and robbers. Will snapped. The repressed memory resurfaces. “You had this look in your eye,” Paul says — the same look he saw earlier.

Will admits he’s struggling to stay on the right path and worries he relates too well to killers. Paul says they both have monsters inside them. “You’ve turned it towards something good,” he tells Will. Will argues that he nearly killed Nash and felt like he wanted to. Paul says he spends every day trying to get out of his own way, but keeps fighting. He urges Will to keep fighting, too.

Will is left alone with Betty, confronting the monster he fears might still live inside him.

Will Trent returns next Tuesday, February 24th, at 8/7c on ABC with “We’re Looking for a Vampire.”

A woman found drained of her blood pulls Will and Caleb into a chilling case, leading to a suspect who mirrors Will’s pain. Meanwhile, Amanda is forced to confront her lingering trauma.

Songs Featured in This Episode:

• “Run Like a River” by Vintage Trouble
• “Looking Too Closely” by Fink